As a young adult, I was abusing alcohol and spending too much time with unavailable men. Much of my daily angst was documented in my 1992 journal and years later, when I reread my words, I realized how much shame had consumed me. I removed the pages applied ink and wax, cut them into squares and stitched them back together, not as they were but as something new. The process was healing and allowed me to release the shame I felt and simply let the past be. 

  

Let it Be

A melange of my "rejected" stencils and prints have been torn and stitched together as a metephor for forgiving and letting go of the past. From these fragments of the past, I build something new.

Captured Moments (blue) - detail

Captured Moments (blue)

Captured Moments (red) - detail

Captured Moments (red)

Detail of my grandmother's letters I transcribed onto paper made my her daughter, Sylvia.

Forgiveness Project:  Internment (detail)

Detail of the mark making on the cut pages of my 1992/94 Journal.

Let it Be (detail)

My aunt was a weaver, bookbinder and papermaker. Before she died, she gave me a large collection of her handmade papers. To honour her memory, I’ve used these papers to build and stitch her likeness in four portraits; eight if you include the shadows they cast. They are inspired by Andy Warhol’s screenprints of famous women. Family members sent me stories, words and phrases in her memory and I have torn and stitched them into the background of each tapestry. One tapestry now resides in my mother’s home. The other three are with my aunt’s children and serve as a reminder of her legacy.

Ode to Sylvia

This is the Reverend Libero Sauro, my grandfather. During WWII, he was arrested and interned at a camp in Petawawa, Ontario, Canada, charged with being an enemy alien of the state. He was an Italian Canadian and the irony of this event is that five of his nine Canadian children were serving in the Canadian Armed forces during his internment.

  
My grandmother wrote many letters to government officials advocating for his release. I transcribed the letters onto paper made by her daughter (my aunt) and tore and stitched them together as an act of forgiveness and letting go of the past. Libero’s portrait is revealed in the shadow, like a ghost from the past. Lest we forget. This is the first in a series of portraits that will be part of the Forgiveness Project: Internment.

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Loretta Faveri